Satamori Academy
by PocketKnight64
Summary: A Pokemon Universe where the trainers learn to be the best in school! The best of these schools is Satamori, where only the best students will ever graduate! Do our heroes even have a chance? Inspired by another Pokemon fan project known as Pokemon Academy Life (though unaffiliated and using none of the characters from that story). Think of this as my own take on a similar idea.
1. Chapter 1

"Use Sleep Powder Charmy!" A young boy declared pointing his Butterfree at the enemy, a small Rattata

This was just a typical day in quiet Pallet Town. Pallet Town was a rather quiet town that many people tend to forget about. Being a coastal town, Pallet Town was often ignored by the bigger ships which would use either Cinnabar or Vermilion City port, so the town hardly got any visitors. The town also didn't offer much in terms of points of interests.  
They didn't have a Pokemon Gym, and the town hadn't had many famous trainers that would make people flock to the town to meet. All they had was Professor Oak, the renowned expert on all things Pokemon, and even rumors were now circulating that he wouldn't be around much longer, saying that he taken a job at some school...

That didn't stop the local kids from enjoying whatever fun they could have in this boring town. Of course, the most fun was having fun little local Pokemon battles with each other. None of the kids could catch Pokemon of their yet of course,  
none of them had a proper Pokemon catching licence yet, and most wouldn't get one until they were 16. However many did have junior training licences, and thus would have their parents catch Pokemon for them that they could battle with for fun. They would even have mini-tournaments to see which kid in town was the best.

Roy was one of those young kids today. He was a young man in his teenage years, who at best could be called average. His hair was a mess of black hair that he rarely combed and his eyes were a plain shade of blue. He wasn't really the smartest kid in class nor the dumbest and he wasn't really a stand-out in athletics either. The only thing that had made him stand-out was his love for Pokemon his talent as a trainer.

That talent was what was allowing him to win his current fight. His Butterfree was beginning to follow the command it had been given and began to flap its wings, pouring powder at the small rat enemy. Sure enough, the enemy began to get dozy and despite it's best efforts, the Rattata began to fall asleep.

"Wake up Whiskers!" His opponent, a kid only about a year younger then his shouted. Despite his best efforts however,  
the Pokemon refused to wake up.

"Now use Confusion!" Roy declared. His Butterfree responded by hitting the sleeping Pokemon with a small psychic blast,  
causing the Rattata to jolt a bit from its nap, until to knock out shortly after.

The crowd of kids that had gathered here today began to clap and cheer for the winning Butterfree and her trainer. Roy began to pick something from his pockets as his Pokemon fluttered back to him. He gave the Butterfree a small little treat for it to nibble on and gave the Pokemon a pat on the head for its victory. Charmy smiled while it nibbled on its little treat and got rewarded for her victory.

Roy remembered when his Charmy was once a little Caterpie that his mom had caught for him when he was 10 and had just received his junior trainer licence. The cute little bug had grown so much since then, from a Caterpie to a Metapod,  
and finally to a Butterfree. They had seen so many battles, so much training behind them, and gone so far in the years they had known each other.

She wasn't his only Pokemon either. His mother had caught him 3 Pokemon to raise on his own so that he could play with the other kids. In addition to Charmy, he also had Pidgey that had grown into a Pidgeotto, and a small Poliwag, who was close to evolving. The three had become great friends over time and he had become one of the strongest trainers in town. He wasn't the strongest however, but one day he would be. At least that's what he kept telling himself...

"That was great fight!" His opponent declared, extended his hand, which Roy responded by extending his own and the two began to shake hands.

"Thanks!" Roy smiled, enjoying the praise "Your Pokemon was really strong!"

"Not as strong as yours are..." His opponent shook his head. "You from one of those special schools right? The ones that train all the professional trainers right?"

"Actually..." Roy sighed "I did apply to those schools. But I haven't heard anything back from them."

There were two schools he really wanted to go to. The first was Kobukan Academy, a school known for its prestige but also known for being difficult for getting into. He knew that a few of the kids his age, including the professor's grandson had been accepted into the school. He had wanted to go to that school so he could rival those students, but his acceptance letter yet, so it was likely he wasn't going to get it. The other school was Satamori Academy, Kobukan's rival school. However, if he couldn't get into Kobukan, how could he expect Satamori to be any different...?

That was when he began a to see a familiar figure in the distance. A young woman began to run down the path towards the kid's little tournament, holding some kind of paper in her hands. As she began to get closer, her loud voice calling out for Roy made the boy blush in embarrassment. His face was nearly flushed once she actually reached him.

"Wow..." His former opponent as well as several other guys began to look at the woman in awe "Roy, is that your older sister?" The woman looked quite similar to her son, with deep black hair and clear blue eyes. However, well his was a messy bunch of hair, she seemed quite stylish, letting it grow into a long ponytail that went down to her waist and her eyes looked even brighter then his own. He could see why they could figure out they were related but...this was his mom not his sister.

"Honey!" Roy's mom held up a piece of paper to the young man's face, to close for him to actual read it though. "You got in!" She gleefully yelled, tears in her eyes "You got in! You got in!"

Roy quickly took the piece paper out of his mother's hands and began to read it so that he could understand what she was talking about. As soon as he read it however the paper fell to the ground. The young man was in quite the shocked state after reading it.

"I got in..." Roy began to repeat the same phrase his mother did "Satamori Academy...I made it in..."

Ecstatic and finally returning to his senses. He threw two Pokeballs into the air, releasing both his remaining Pokemon and began to dance around them "We made it into Satamori Academy!" He declared "I'm going to learn to become a real trainer and we'll be able to go on real adventures and become real champions."

He and his began to let out a joyful cheer. Roy's mother picked up the letter once more and began to read it once more to make sure she had gotten all the details. As she began to read one certain passage however, her heart sank a little. She looked at her son and his happy Pokemon and she knew she had to break the news...

"Um Honey..." His mother said in a soft voice "I'm sorry to deal you this, but Satamori doesn't allow any Pokemon on campus outside of those they provide at school. The school is rather strict on their policy, since they want students there to develop their natural ability and talents. They don't want students to rely to heavily on their parent's Pokemon.  
Despite you raising them, Charmy, Pidgo, and Poliwaggy are technically my Pokemon. You cannot bring them to school with you!"

"But..." Roy tried to interject but couldn't a correct answer. Should he simply wait to see if the other school had accepted him? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. But without his Pokemon, his friends since childhood, was it really worth it?

"Don't worry..." His mother exclaimed "They'll be fine at the house with me." She looked at her son with understanding eyes "I know it's hard to leave your friends, but they aren't gone. But they'll still be here, waiting for you to visit."  
She smiled "Just think all about all the human and Pokemon friends you will make at school. I'm sure everyone here will be glad the Pokemon you caught and raised with your own talent!"

"My own Pokemon..." Roy smiled at the thought. Liked many kids his age, he awaited the day when he could finally make his first capture, obtain the first Pokemon through his own skills as a trainer. Many older kids talked fondly about their first capture, how they had encounter the Pokemon that would truly start their journey and set them on the course to adventure. He wanted that experience badly.

He looked over at his three Pokemon, who had looks of confusion and sadness. They in some part knew what was going on and knew what was coming next. "I'm sorry..." He said to them "I'll have to leave soon. I'm going to going to a far away place to become a true Pokemon trainer." His face began to tear up "I can't take you with me, but this something I have to do this. I want to become a Pokemon trainer. I want to become the best Pokemon trainer. To do this, I have learn all I can and get through Satomori's rigorous school."

He then smiled ""Hey don't make those faces..." Roy tried to cheer his team up. Don't worry mom will take care of you until I get back, and any chance I can take I'll come visit you guys okay?"

His team of Pokemon finally began to cheer up and again the excitement of their trainer's acceptance was meant with fanfare and joy. The three vowed to enjoy the few days that had left before he had to leave to just hanging out and having fun, with the occasionally battle or two to keep in shape. Soon enough however...it was time to get going...

Roy found himself at Vermilion port quite early in the morning. He was feeling really tired from the night before. He hadn't been able to sleep all last night, he was just so nervous about today. Aside from the occasional trip to Viridian,  
he had never been out of Pallet town before. He didn't know that much about the outside world, and yet he was going to a far off region where he knew absolutely nothing. A part of him wanted to turn back now before he made a fool of himself.  
The other half however, was excited to see what was to come.

As he waited for his ship to arrive, he took the opportunity to play with his Pokemon one last time. They had chosen to see off their trainer before he headed our for the academy. He was glad to see them and the four were happily dancing and generally goofing off as he gave them one last treat gave each a quick little pet.

While Roy was busy playing with his Pokemon. Another kid around Roy's age, a boy with spiky white hair and rather sharp dull colored eyes. He snickered at the sight he was watching, catching Roy's attention, stopping the merriment he was having.

"What are you laughing at?" Roy defensively asked

"What do you think?" He sarcastically snarled back "You're like a little kid, dancing around with such weakling Pokemon!  
It's pathetic! Aren't you going to the same school as me?" He scoffed "I guess they do need a few dropouts after all..."

"Hey!" Roy shouted back "These guys are my friends! How are you going to Satomori? The way you talk, you act like Pokemon are just tools to be abandoned!"

"Whatever!" The white haired boy turned away from Roy and began to stormed off "Just don't get in my way dropout boy!  
I'm going to be strongest trainer in the world someday! I don't need stupid sentimental friendship morons like you talking to me like you're anything but a weakling!"

Roy wanted to retort, but before he could the other boy was already gone. Roy was flabbergasted at the young man's comments. He began to look around at some of the other kids around his age waiting for the ship. Was his mindset the same as everyone else's? He shook his head. He couldn't believe that an academy of the best trainers would really treat Pokemon as tools. Still he wondered how a kid like that got accepted...

"Roy!" Roy's mother's voice began to shout Roy see her waving at him with a large bag. "I can't believe they won't let me send you any money and that you have to leave your friends at home. At least they let me pack you plenty of essentials, including clean...

"Mom!..." Roy was blushing red, hoping no one heard her. "Don't worry it will be fine. All young boys have to leave someday right? Besides, I'll be home for the holidays and summer break."

His mother smiled and nodded "You're right. Just don't forget to make some human friends on top of your Pokemon friends as well alright?"!"

He nodded in agreement. It was then the loud sound of the cruise that would be taking him to the academy began to echo as the large ship began to dock. Roy could see several other kids his age waving from the ship, likely other students from all three grades getting picked up. He wondered how many of them were first years just like him. How many he would get to know and make friends? How many of them would instead by rivals he would have to pass time and time again. Would one of the many girls on the ship be his first girlfriend, or was she waiting to be picked up at another port.

As he began to walk to the docking point, he noticed the white haired boy from before once again. He didn't seem to have anyone to send him off, no Pokemon, no parents, no siblings, no friends. He was a rather coarse and cold one. Even in that moment, Roy knew that they would meet again. If they were really going to the same school, he would clash with him eventually. Because he too wanted to be the strongest trainer, and he wanted to do it with Pokemon he could proudly call his friends.

Before he could walk on the boat himself, his Pokemon huddled around him and as he turned to see what was going on. He heard saw his mother with a camera taking a picture.

"Surprised?" She said "I wanted to take your picture right before you headed off."

"Wouldn't be better to have me pose or something?" Roy asked his mom.

Instead she shook her head. "No...because I want to get a more natural shot. I want to save this picture for 3 years. When you graduate I want you to look back at this moment and see how much you've grown. I know you're going to great!  
Now go out there and show them what my son is made of!"

That speech left a smile on Roy's face as he began to board the boat to his new adventure...


	2. Chapter 2

It was high noon when the large ship finally reached the docks of it's destination. On this ship carried young men and women who dreamed of one day reaching the top of the Pokemon World. They were future trainers who dreamed of being champions. They were students who attended one of the most legendary schools in the Pokemon world: Satomori Academy

Royce began to disembark the ship with all of the other students. "I'm really here..." He began to tell himself, his feet beginning to shake "This is so unreal..." His shaking feet began to stop as he finally touched the ground. This was his first step after all. He couldn't be nervous. He had gotten this far right?

He then began to notice several senior students speaking into large megaphones and gathering many of the younger students "All first year candidates are to be escorted to the to the auditorium for freshman orientation!" Please form a group around any one of the designated senior students in an orderly fashion!"

Royce began to look around and noticed several seniors standing around with groups of students gathered around them.  
From the back of his eye, Royce noticed the rude white haired boy from before walking over to one of the senior students.  
After their little quarrel back at Vermilion, he wasn't about to group with him. He began to turn his head around and dart his eyes around in the hopes of finding any other group. Hopefully they would far more friendly..

That was when his attention was turned to a senior student wildly waving his hands around. His face was rather gruff, and his extremely pointy black hair was intimidating, but the goofy smile he had on plus the wild waving of his hands gave off a good impression to Royce, and he quickly ran in his direction.

As he approached the senior student, the senior put his down and looked straight at him with a smile "You're a freshie too right?" He pumped his fists as Royce nodded shyly "Great! That makes 50! We can get going to the auditorium now, and before everyone else too! This is going to be great! Everybody here get ready to do your best!"

"Um..." Royce seemed rather confused "Why does there need to be 50 of us? Isn't it better that all the freshman simply meet up for orientation?"

This question got another grin from the senior student "Oh, it's nothing important right now..." He slyly said "There are just 400 new students selected every year and 8 seniors students on freshman duty. We just want to balance out the ratio is all!"

"But why would..."

"Everyone ready!" The senior student interrupted Royce's question, putting his fist into the air "Give this year everything you've got and shoot for the top! Make your time here count and let's start on the path to your future!"

Everyone else seemed to cheer as the senior student began to walk towards the auditorium, leaving Royce flabbergasted.  
Something was up, and he wasn't going to get answers. As he began to walk with the group, he began to wrack his mind about what was really going on. He was so distracted, that he didn't notice a young girl's hand grab him by the shoulder Royce began to jump in surprise at the sudden hand on his shoulder.

"Oh sorry! Guess I spooked you huh?" As Royce turned around to look at the girl speaking to him, he noticed that she was actually pretty cute, with bouncy long deep pink hair and beautiful green eyes and a cute smile to boot!

"Sorry about that!" He turned his away a bit. He didn't want her to think he was staring too much. "I'm just a little on edge is all. It is the first day and all!"

"Really?" She said, thinking for a moment before jumping back to smiling "I just wanted to say hi because you were the kid with all the cute Pokemon with him at Vermilion Port right? The one who was arguing with that white haired boy right?"

"Yeah that was me." Royce said "I wanted to say good-bye to my friends before I left, and that kid was laughing, so we got into a fight!"

"So cool!" Another student chimed in, a boy with hot red hair "Your parents let you have your own Pokemon? That's amazing! I always had to borrow some of my dads Pokemon whenever I wanted to practice battling or hang out with friends in the woods, so I've never really had a Pokemon of my own!"

"I've only ever really played the games" Another boy joined the conversation. "I was a championship gamer, so I got a pass into the school!"

Soon everyone was joining in on the conversation, about their own Pokemon experiences and how they had come to this school. Some of the students were like Royce and had passed the entrance exam, while others had been scouted by highly ranked trainers or proven themselves in junior competitions. One things was for certain though; each of them loved the world of Pokemon very much.

Amidst their talking, they had all suddenly found themselves already in the auditorium, being the first ones to arrive.  
Their senior motioned for them to take their seats in the front row, grouping them all together in bunch. Royce found himself beside both the pink girl and the gamer guy from before. The girl waved to him as she also noticed they were next to each other. Royce meekly waved back at the sweet girl not wanting to draw to much attention.

Soon enough the other 7 senior students arrived with the remaining students and each group like them began to sit down together. Royce once again returned his thoughts to the question of why orientation had been set up like this. They had yet to get any homeroom or dorm assignments at all and of course there was the senior student who had lead them here who was talking about "being ready to do their best" and was hiding something for sure. What was going on?

That was when they all met their first faculty member. He was a rather lanky man in his early 40s, his short brown hair already going grey. He began to walk up to the auditorium hall's podium and began test the microphone before finally beginning his speech...

"Greeting and welcome to Satomori Academy! My name is Professor Spruce, and I am the vice-principal of this wonderful establishment. I congratulate you all for getting this far! You should feel proud for all the hard-work and raw talent that has brought you here to today. We have thousands of applicants every year, and only you 400 were selected by this school! Though of course that isn't technically the truth..."

"Huh...?" Royce noticed the change in tone with the professor's words, as did many others in the class as well.

Professor Spruce continued, his tone becoming dark. "You see...as many of you might already known from family or friends, but Satomori Academy is an unforgiving establishment. Look to the left and right of you" He waited for the kids to do as he asked "Not only will those to likely fail, but so will you. In fact, our graduation rate is only 10% on average.  
Only 10% of our students truly meet our standards!"

Professor Spruce could hear the murmurs in the group and began to point at the seniors in the classroom "If you need proof ask your upperclassman. Of the 400 candidates who started at this school as you did, there are now only 86 students left!  
To truly graduate from this school, you will truly need to be the best of the best, truly be a cut above the rest! Oh, and by the way, that begins now!"

The stunned student body watched as a large projector screen began to drop down. "You've all done well so far, but it is time to test your ability as a true trainer, and of course the first step for any trainer is capturing Pokemon, wouldn't!  
you say?" The screen began to display a large facility of some kind. "I'm sure all of you are familiar with Safari Zones correct! If not, they are special facilities designed to serve as nature preserves in which patrons can spend money to catch Pokemon in a controlled environment. We at Satomori Academy have designed a large scale Safari Zone of our own that we use to test a student's capturing ability under limited resources. It is here were you shall take the practical portion of your exam."

"An exam already?" Royce said. They weren't kidding around.

"You have all been divided into 8 groups of 50. At random we will select 2 groups to enter the Safari Area at a time.  
Each student will be given the standard 30 Safari Balls, but also a limited 30 rationed baits and 30 pester balls designed to slightly irritate enemy Pokemon, causing their guard to drop. You will also be given a small teleport pad as well"  
The professor motioned for the senior students to hand out white pads "Place these pads on your person. While in the safari zone, you can use these to warp you to the entrances of each zone. In addition, if things should get ugly, they are designed to warp you back to safety, though doing so will end your safari game."

The professor paced around the podium, grabbing the mic to continue to speak. "Each group will have one hour to hunt for wild Pokemon. You will be judged based on how many Pokemon you capture, how many of your safari balls, pester balls, and baits remain, and on the quality and rarity of the Pokemon you capture. The top 200 students will the ones to truly enter this academy!"

"ONLY 200?!" Almost all the students freaked out at the news. That was only half of the students here. They really weren't kidding when they said this was going to be tough.

"So I'll say once again..." The Professor said "You should be proud of how far you've come, but this is where everything truly begins!"


	3. Chapter 3

Looking at the massive gates of the school's Safari area made it even more intimidating. It was a pretty large gate blocked by a reinforced steel gate. The gateway was blocked by two guards who began to stare at the large crowd of students waiting by.

Roy's group was part of the second wave of examines, much to their senior student's irritation. Roy was fine with that, he needed to catch his breath after the excitement of this exam. Right off the bat they were just going to expel 200 students? What kind of school was this? He had heard once before that Satamori was known for its grueling challenges before, but he hadn't thought that only 10% of all the students would pass. What had he gotten himself into?

That was when Roy felt a hand put itself on his shoulder. The suddenness of the action made him freak out once again and flail around once more. When he finally calmed he looked over to see the pink haired girl from before smiling at him.

"You're really jumpy!" She laughed.

"How can I not be!" Roy exclaimed "I mean, you heard what that professor said right?" Only half of us can pass right,  
and I don't think any of us has caught any Pokemon, so we there's always a chance we could fail. Aren't you afraid at all?"

"Nope!" The pink haired girl said without any hesitation "I mean, we can only do our best right? Like the professor said, we made it this far right? If we worry to much about whether we're good enough or not, we won't be able to win right?"

"That's the spirit!" a voice began to bellow out. It was the senior student who was in charge of them again raising his fist in the air "Everyone!" He shouted to all of the students, we began to look at him "Remember that you if you do your best you can't have regrets! If you begin to panic you'll only bring yourself down and you'll fail. Keep going at 100% and you can't lose! Now everyone here better pass okay!"

The entire group cheered at these words, even Roy. He had to be more confidant. That pink haired girl was right. If he worried to much he'd just be making himself worse. He had made it here just like everyone else. He had the same chance as everyone else.

That's when he remembered "Oh yeah" He turned back to the pink haired girl "You know we've talked a lot but I don't really don't know you're name. My name is Roy, what's yours?"

"Oh, I'm Lily!" The young girl said "It's great to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" The boy was glad to have met such a nice girl

"Hey don't forget me!" The red head from before showed up to introduce himself "My name is Abel!"

"Oh you guys..." The video game champ from before able appeared before the group "I guess we really didn't introduce ourselves properly before did we? Well my name is Jack and I plan on passing this with a top score!"

"Let's make sure all of us pass okay?" Lily said "That way we can all help each other become the very best!"

"Yeah!" Roy nodded. He really hoped that was the case.

"Oh yeah!" Abel said "I can't lose here! I plan on standing at the world stage! This is my moment!"

"The world stage huh" Jack laughed "I think that's something we all are planning for." He then let a soft smiled creep onto his lips "Well I guess I hope we all pass as well. This could be a great beginning to a long lasting friendship!"

"Attention everyone!" A loud voice blared. As Roy looked around to see what was going on, he saw the professor from earlier holding up a megaphone. "The first group has just finished and will be exiting soon. Each of best get yourself mentally prepared. You will only have one hour to catch as many rare and powerful Pokemon as you can. Remember that half of you will pass and fail based on these results alone.

Roy already knew that and didn't need to be reminded of that. He looked over at the bag the school had given him. 30 Pokeballs with green top and white bottom glistened in his bag. Each ball had the large "SM" painted on the top in bold gold letters. These letters were a shorthand for Satamori Academy as the bag itself was printed with the school markings.  
It seemed like the school really loved to put there logo on everything they made.

The Pokeballs weren't the only thing in the bag either. 30 smaller white balls that seemed to have the texture of rice were wrapped in thin plastic bags and also stuffed in the bag. This must have been the "bait balls" the professor was talking about. Roy wondered what it was actually made of. Was it really rice like it looked like, or some special bait crafted by the school? Satamori was known for having excellent breeders as well, so it wasn't out there to have such high quality goods. Then again that might make the test to easy...

Finally the last items in his bag were even smaller. 30 black balls were kept in a seperate compartment of the bag. They looked rather bouncy, more like a small toy then something that would annoy Pokemon, plus they looked nothing like Pester balls in the Pokemon games...

"Remember to be careful with the Pester Balls!" The megaphone blared "While meant to activate when thrown, they can activate whenever enough pressure is put on them. So be careful with them!"

Roy began to prepare himself. He began to attach some of the Safari balls to his belt, thinking it would help him catch Pokemon a bit faster. Looking down at himself, it actually helped him feel more like a trainer, like he was catching his future team. He began to stuff his pockets with some of the bait since it was easier then going into his bag every time.  
As for the pester balls...well forget them. Even if it helped, he didn't like the idea of them in the first place.  
Using tools to weaken Pokemon just felt wrong.

That was when the pad on his chest began to flash a Purple color. The megaphone blared once again "Only 5 minutes until your exam begins. Please note the color of your teleport pad. As you enter through the gates, you will be transported the center of 10 different Zones. By tapping the pad you can change the color and transport yourself instantly to that part of the safari." the professor continued "Also remember that the pads are also sensors that can detect oncoming Pokemon attacks. If an enemy Pokemon tries to attack you and you are unable to avoid it, you will be sent back here and your exam will end right there, regardless of remaining time. So please be careful okay?"

Soon a loud bell could be heard and the megaphone blared again "Good luck everyone!"

Before Roy could respond, the large crowd of students began to pile together and rush towards the doors, dragging him with them into the gates of the Safari Zone. He began to look to see if he could find the pink haired girl from before among them, maybe see which zone she was in. Among the sea of hair colors however, he couldn't find her at all, but instead for a brief instant saw white hair. That boy from before was in his group...

In the next instant he found himself in a large wetlands. While there are many forested patches of land with tall trees surrounding the area, most of it was rather soft watery earth and most of the area was occupied by a man-made river that stretched on for a while. Along the river were a bridges to cross the swampy landscape, all of them having fishing rods along the bridge for students to use. Roy figured that the staff had left them there for trainers to use to fish for Pokemon, so that trainers could also obtain water Pokemon instead of wading through the swampy water!

Despite the rather dreary environment, Roy was still rather excited. No matter where he was, the excitement of his first capture was still in his mind. It was even greater now that he was in this swamp. Most people talked about their first capture being something common like a Pidgey or a Rattata or something like that. Here we was however, in not only an unfamiliar area, but also in a Safari area where really rare Pokemon existed. Imagine what kind of Pokemon who could catch...

That was when he felt something gooey begin to walk up to his leg. The slimy thing must have smelled the delicious bait that was inside Roy's pocket and walked over to the boy, reaching up his leg to see if it could reach the nice smell nearby. In an instant Roy recoiled back and threw one of the Pokeballs on his belt, the Pokemon being caught in the ball in an instant.

"Huh?" Roy finally came back to his senses as soon as the Pokemon was caught, watching the Pokeball bouncing around.

Shake...

Shake...

Shake...

BING!

Roy could only look at the Pokeball that now stood right at him. "What was that?" Roy hadn't even seen what his Pokeball had caught. "Was that my first capture? That was it..." He began to freak out falling to his knees. "Wait, WHAT DID I CATCH?! I don't even know what happened! I can't believe I messed up my first capture!"

Roy began to calm down. "Well at least I can see what I caught right?" He finally began to smile "This will be my first real Pokemon after all!" He began to reach for the ball when it began to disappear. "Of course..." He began to realize "This is a safari zone game and a test like that. Of course they wouldn't let me keep the Pokemon. My first capture...  
ruined."

Well there wasn't time to worry about that now. Roy had to remind himself that this was still a test. He had to catch as many Pokemon as he could in what time he had left. Despite not knowing what he had caught, he had still caught a Pokemon rather easily. If things kept going like this, he might be able to pass! At least that was something good right?

Of course Roy wasn't the only taking the exam however, and as Roy continued his catching game, many of the students he had met along the way were also finding themselves rather busy catching Pokemon as well:

Lily had begun her adventure in a quiet meadow. She looked around and soon saw many cute Pokemon minding their own business and paying no mind to her. That is except for a smaller pink Pokemon that seemed to take notice of her, a small baby Pokemon holding a little white stone. It seemed rather curious about the new person and began to walk next to Lily in anticipation.

The pink haired girl bent over and pulled out one of the bait balls she had been given "Would you like one?" She asked the Pokemon, which happily grabbed the white ball and happily chewed down. The girl watched the Pokemon eat with a smile as other Pokemon began to huddle next to her.

"You want some as well?" She asked the group "How would you guys like to help with my test?"

Meanwhile Abel found himself in a rather rocky area along with Jack. Abel waved over to his new friend and motioned him to come over, though strangely Jack didn't respond.

"Pretty lucky we were sent to the same place huh?" Abel finally yelled "We can work together now and make sure we both pass!"

"You sure about that?" Jack called back "Remember that half of us will be failing this exam. Teaming up is a dangerous prospect.  
If you really want us to both pass, we should be separating and making sure we aren't competing!"

"Oh right..." Abel had thought to himself that working together would be best, but Jack did have a point after all. Working together would just result in them only ending up with half the Pokemon. Not good at all!

That was when Abel could feel the ground beneath him shake a little, though Jack seemed unaffected. That was when Abel realized that he had accidentally started his safari hunt landing right on top of a Geodude, who was not really happy about the human whom had decided to step all over him.

"Crap!" Abel quickly jumped off the Pokemon and threw a Pokeball at it in an panic. Geodude tried to attack it, but of course it ended up right into the Pokeball...

Shake...

Shake...

Shake...

BING!

"Whew...that was close..." Abel wiped his brow "If I know anything about Geodudes, it's the fact that they can use Explosion!"

Jack shook his head "I doubt that Pokemon here are strong enough to learn the stronger moves" He said with reassurance "Even with the teleport pads that should be able to sense danger, the school wouldn't risk having stronger Pokemon in here...at least I haven't seen anything but first-stage Pokemon around!"

Abel looked around and noticed what Jack was talking about. All around the area, there were more Geodude and other weaker Pokemon, such as Larvitar, Meditite and Magnemite, as well as so many other first-stage Pokemon. Abel was surprised at all the variety of Pokemon from different types as well as different regions. This was truly the perfect place for catching Pokemon!

That was when once again the ground began to shake once more. This time however, both young men could feel the shaking earth beneath their feet. This time it wasn't an Geodude, but an Onix that had buried itself underground. It let out a powerful roar the moment it had fully freed itself from the ground.

"Whoa! Abel was stunned "I tend to forget that Onix is still a first-stage Pokemon! It's huge!"

"Something's wrong..." Jack said in a panic "That Onix seems way to aggressive! I don't think that Onix..."

Before he could finish talking, the Onix's tail turned to steel and began to directly attack the two boys, aiming it's tail straight at Jack. The moment before the attack connected, Jack suddenly vanished in an instant. The Onix looked bewildered as its prey suddenly disappeared from it's eyes, and it's target soon changed from the missing Jack to Abel, though soon it's attention was turned to the Pokeball heading it's way and engulfing it in a bright light...

Shake...

Shake...

Before it could finish, the Pokeball broke and the Onix from its prison. It now was definitely targeting Abel for sure. Of course Abel didn't stay much longer. He quickly tapped onto the pad to transport himself to another area...any area. It worked and soon the second prey of Onix's prey had left him, though this one escaped to continue his test.

Of course these two weren't the only ones in this particular zone. From the start, there had been 200 students split evenly between all 10 zones, meaning 20 students per Zone. The Onix started to move around and noticed more similar humans all catching Pokemon. They were the perfect

Outside of any zone, in a town just north of the school itself, a small group of men and women sit at a cafe and discuss amongst themselves.

"So you planted it?" One of the men asked

"Of course!" One of the young women said "But why just the Onix though? Shouldn't we have at least had one high-level Pokemon released into each of the zones?"

"The whole idea is to only have a few students fail in an unfair way. If they lost an entire group in battle, they might investigate and restart the test, missing the whole point. That's why we contained the Onix underground until the second group started. We want students to feel cheated by the system, so they'll join one of those groups. We want them to join the organizations of rebellion. We want them to fight against the system that wronged them. Got it?"

"Crushing children's dreams and blackening their hearts for our own ends..." The other woman mused while giggling to herself "What awful people we must be."

"Satamori was already doing it to itself as is." The fourth member said "All we're doing exaggerating the flaws and directing the anger of broken dreams to where it belongs."

"Let's just hope we get some strong trainers out of all of this!" 


	4. Chapter 4

"Only 10 minutes left until the exam is over!" A loud voice cried out over a loud speaker. The exam was almost over.

As soon as he heard that warning, Roy began to look over his bag. So far, he had managed to capture about 12 Pokemon including the one he managed to capture on accident. However, he had used half his bait and at least 20 Safari balls to do so. Perhaps he should have tried to use the pester balls after all. He still had all of those, though it was because he still refused to use them. He still wouldn't hurt any Pokemon with the pester balls.

With only 10 minutes left he needed an edge when it came to judging. He was pretty sure he had saw all the Pokemon in the swamp area by this point, including even the rare ones. If he wanted to get the most points, he would have to try to find as many rare Pokemon as he could in the remaining areas. He needed quality right now, not quantity.

Roy began to tap the teleport that rested on his torso and soon found himself in a rocky area. It was rather barren, with only a few larger rocks around for cover. This must have been the mountain region, at least, that's what Roy could gather anyway.

Roy was surprised though. Despite the lack of cover, he couldn't see any trainers or any Pokemon. Perhaps trainers sent here had left the area after not being able to find any Pokemon. But the lack of Pokemon just seemed strange to him. He doubted the school would create a zone with nothing, so where were they?

He got his answer as he soon saw a stampede of Pokemon race towards him, running more away from something then towards him. The young man simply jumped to the side as the stampede proceeded to ignore the obstacle and continue moving forward at a fast pace. Roy was even tempted to capture a few, but it didn't feel right. Something was definitely wrong and it wasn't right to exploit the situation, test or no.

That was when he the rumbling of the earth got close enough for Roy to feel it beneath his feet. He began to lose his balance and tried his hardest to regain it before completely falling to the floor. Once he regained it, he noticed the large shadow towering over him and looked up. It was a MASSIVE Onix, staring at the young boy as if expecting something.

The Onix looked below at the small new prey that had finally appeared before him. At the start, he had seen so many targets after those first two. Each time his tail would get near and suddenly they would disappear. Only that second target had left early. If it could count, it would have known that 22 had narrowly avoided his mighty tail swing. He hoped that this knew would be the first it's tail would hit.

That was when yet another ball smashed into the Onix's face. This time however, instead of attempting to capture him, the ball released a strange gas the irritated the great rock snake, causing it to freak out a bit. Roy decided to take this chance to get as much distance from the giant Pokemon as he could, going in the direction of the pester ball and using one of the larger rocks to hide from the great beast.

Soon the Onix realized that it's prey had run off. In its anger and frustration, it let out a mighty bellowing roar that could be heard throughout the area. Once it was done, it began to quickly move around the zone, trying to find more trainers to attack.

Roy sighed a breath of relief as the Onix began to go in another direction. That was when he turned around and saw who it was that had thrown that pester ball...

"YOU!" He yelled out in surprise as he noticed the white haired young man from Vermilion Port. What were the chances those two would see each other again?

"You're that weakling from before aren't you?" The young man answered back "I'm surprised that you even survived in this zone. I doubt many people didn't fail trying to capture this thing. It seems to be targeting trainers, though that's strange for most Pokemon..."

"It's not just trainers though..." Roy responded "It's anything in its way. I saw a stampede of Pokemon pass by a little while ago. They were running from this Onix. I think it's just rampaging all over the place, attacking it wants."

"Doesn't matter..." The white haired boy pulled out a few more pester balls and a Safari Ball "I've already captured 29 other Pokemon and I plan on making that Onix my final capture. So stay out of my way and maybe you can survive this test. Be thankful I'm after the top score, not just passing."

"29 Pokemon?" Roy was flabbergasted. That would mean this kid had a 100% capture rating at this point. That was beyond impossible!

"I'm just the best!" The white haired boy declared before pushing him away "Now get out of the way!"

That was when Roy thought for a moment before thinking of something. "I'm going to help you. If we work together, we can catch that Onix and make this zone safe for the Pokemon!"

"Are you stupid?!" The young man snarled "Look, you want to be my lackey fine, but don't come crying to me when you fail alright?

Roy nodded and agreement and the two boys discussed their line of attack...

"Only 5 minutes left until the exam is over!"

The Onix was still searching for it's prey, any prey when it soon saw two trainers standing right next to it! What luck! The Onix let out another intimidating roar to show the two who was boss. It would definitely hit these two for sure...

That was when one of the boys threw a ball at the giant stone snake. An irritating powder again exploded onto the Onix's face, irritating and infuriating the creature. Mad with rage the beast began to swing it's tail at the white haired trainer who had attacked it, only to have the other boy throw another irritating ball at it, causing it more pain.

"I'm sorry..." Roy really hated doing this "But you're attacking Pokemon and trainers! We have to stop you no matter what!"

Before the Onix could properly respond, another ball of irritating gas hit it again, the white haired boy throwing another pester ball at it. Then the cycle continued as the Onix turned it's head to face the trainer in rage, only for another pester ball to hit it's face once more.

"You should be weak enough now..." The white haired boy exclaimed "So get in the Pokeball!" The white haired boy threw his last safari ball at the monster and it was captured in a mass of light...

Shake...

Shake...

Shake...

Suddenly, the ball opened with the bellowing roar of the enemy Onix. Their plan had failed. The white haired student's last Pokeball had failed.

"Darn! Stupid Onix..." Before he could finish, the white haired student was sent away by the teleport pad.

It took Roy a couple of seconds before he realized the situation. His partner had disappeared on him suddenly because the he had run out of safari balls. Just like in the games, the rules must have been that once you ran out of Safari balls, you were immediately sent back to the entrance. While that was good for the white haired boy who would have been defenseless, it wasn't good for Roy who was now the only thing in this Onix's way...

The Onix went on the attack yet again, swiping it's tail at the poor boy. At this point Roy knew the Onix's tricks and jumped as far as he could to avoid the tail, falling to the floor and leaving himself defenseless. Desperate, Roy threw a safari ball of his own at the Onix, once again trapping it. This had to work, or else everything had been in vain...

Shake...

Shake...

Shake...

BING!

It HAD worked. Roy had captured the high level and dangerous Onix! Now it was safe. Now he could take a breather and use the last minutes to...

"DING DONG!" The sound of a bell could be heard all around the Safari Testing Zones "TIME IS UP! YOUR SAFARI EXAM IS NOW OVER!"

In an instant, Roy found himself back at the entrance along with all of those still taking the test. He looked around the other contestants to see if any of his new friends were still among them. While he could see Abel, he couldn't find either Lily nor Jack. He could only hope that those two simply were missing because they had also caught 30 Pokemon like that white haired punk.

Soon enough the professor from before walked over to the group of remaining students. "That concludes the true entrance exams. Everyone please head to the auditorium to review your results. Your score will be judged along with the the first group and the top 200 students will be truly accepted in Satamori Academy. I wish you all the best of luck!"

As the large group of students followed the senior students and professor back to the auditorium, Abel had finally noticed that Roy was among the group and walked over to him. Abel was rather glad to see at least one of his friends among the group and quick ran over to greet him. However unlike before where he had had so much energy before. When Roy saw him he had a rather dour look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Roy asked him.

"Hey have you seen Lily at all?" Abel asked him.

"No..." Roy said "I haven't seen either her or Jack at all..."

Abel faced soured a little more "Jack is out..." He said with a solemn voice "We both had been sent to the same zone and we both got attacked by a rampaging Onix. I was able to get out in time, but Jack was almost hit and sent out of the Safari Zone for his safety." He looked down "He hadn't caught any Pokemon yet, so there's no doubt he failed. Heck, I was in such a panic I doubt I passed either."

Roy choose not to bring up his own encounter and later capture of said Onix. Still it was rather sad news to learn that Jack had failed the exam outright. It was so unfair. It had only been bad luck that had snatched Jack's dreams away from him. It just wasn't right.

Both Roy and Abel looked at each other grimly as the two walked back to the auditorium. Neither believed that they had passed. Roy was naturally nervous, but since both had wasted time with that rampaging Onix, neither thought they had a chance now. In addition, Roy had already encountered a student who had caught 29 out of 30 Pokemon. That had shattered his confidence entirely. Hopefully Lily was doing better...

Seeing as the second the two got into the auditorium, Lily was waving her hands around waiting for them, it was obvious she was at least confidant. It actually looked rather silly looking, as many other students had no idea what she was doing. Those two did however, which is why they hurried to at least stop her from waving around like a fool.

"Congrats you guys!" Lily was in absolute glee. "All three of us passed! We did it!"

"We did?" Both boys looked over at the large screen that was up on display. On it were the names of all 200 of the passing students, ranked in order of their score. As the two looked down the list, they eventually found their names. Roy was ranked #142 and Abel ranked #197. They had both passed.

Lily smiled "Jack also passed! He's #52 on the list!"

Abel shook his head "I doubt it's the same Jack..." Abel said "I saw Jack get eliminated before he caught a single Pokemon. Unless they rewarded extra points for not using a single item, I doubt he would rank higher then any of us."

"Actually..." Lily laughed "I scored #1 on the list! Guess I'm really good at catching Pokemon!"

"WHAT!" Roy and Abel looked over at the scoreboard. It wasn't possible, but it was true. Lily had scored the highest score. How? HOW?

"Everyone settle down!" The loudspeaker chimed in yet again. Once again the Professor Spruce showed up yet again on stage and began once again to speak "Everyone who is on this board here are the students who truly will begin the life here at Satamori Academy. While I apologize to those who failed, know that you will not be alone. As I said, only about 10% of all students here will finish their education here by graduating. The true test of your skills and potential shall begin tomorrow. Tonight, you will be sent to the dorms and be assigned dorm mates. Please get along with your dorm mates and get a good night sleep for tomorrow...your school life begins tomorrow!"

And so Roy and truly began his school life at Satamori.


End file.
